Family Help

How to get mail while we're travelling. And not just paper that someone could scan, but books or what not. Send them to relatives! It's helpful to have things mailed to us along the way, but this time we had some time-sensitive things to take care of, and no home that we were visiting (if only I had thought of Miki a week ago!). So we sent things to Bill's parents, and she came down to the Great Smoky Mountains with Bill's brother and his family, and brought along our mail. Thank you Lynn!

While Lynn and company were in town, we spent time in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. We had a great time with them going to the aquarium, the odditorium, and mini golfing. So much good food was had....it was a great time, a chance to see Bill's family in a whole different setting!

NS and NB Touching the Jellies

We got to spend time at Ripley's Aquarium doing work on a fun scout patch. There are several touch tanks throughout the aquarium. Here the boys touched jelly fish. Bill wanted me to, but the last time I touched jellies was when I lived in MD back in the 70s, and I got stung way toooooooo many times for my small body. I'm good, I don't need to touch the jellies! But the kids got a kick out of it. They also got to touch horseshoe crabs and stingrays.

Touching the Rays

NB tried to touch the rays, I'm not sure he made it. G was the most successful--he touched four different times! There were also a few sharks in this tank, and they asked that you take your fingers out of the tank as the sharks swim by.

Sawfish

The shark tank is a really cool experience. I have to say, though, that the lighting and the moving sidewalk conspired to make me a bit motion sick. The older boys wanted to go through again, so I went with them, but when they begged to go a third time, I had to take a time out. They went through without me, though, so no loss for them!

NS and the Fat Man

NS posed with the fat man suit. Ripley's Odditorium was a collection of bizarre and record breaking things. Some truly odd things that Ripley collected throughout the years. We ran into one lady who left one area very freaked out. After we went through that area, I couldn't blame her!

Hungry Kids

We went to Bubba Gump's for dinner. Clearly the kids were hungry and not in the mood for a picture. Bill and I got Lt. Dan's Drunken Shrimp, and that rocked. Everyone who got shrimp really enjoyed it, the other food was just so so.

Mini Golfing

We finished the family visit with a trip to Old McDonald's Farm mini golf and lunch at the Mellow Mushroom. We split into two groups for golf, and my group enjoyed ourselves immensely. The other guys felt they got onto a course that was somewhat lame, but we thought the chicken course was crazy enough and fun enough to hold our attention. What a great time we had, hangin' with the fam!